Monday, 2 February 2009

First day of the new school year. At least the weather has cooled down a bit, it was 40+ all of last week!

For my little son this is the first day of his school life. He has been a bit anxious, mainly about learning to read and write, as he is the sort of person who puts a lot of pressure on himself. A perfectionist. Like me. I am not worried about him socially as he has always been good at making friends and he has a group of classmates who he has known for the past two years from childcare and kinder. And he has the BEST teacher in town, she is awesome. In the classroom he went right to his new desk and started drawing. I was so proud and brave, I didn't shed a tear! I can't wait to pick him up this afternoon and give him a huge cuddle!

Big son is in grade 2 this year and has started a new class with a lovely young teacher. He knows a few people from last year so he wont be on his own, but I still get anxious for him as he is not so good at making friends. He is more the sensitive, creative type. Like me. One of the big problems is that we moved here when he was five so he was only at kinder for two months, and then we changed schools after grade prep because it wasn't working out for us. The school we go to now is a good school, we're much happier here as a family, but some of the other parents can be a bit traditional and cliquey (don't mention the school fete to me!). But he has managed to make a little group of friends and I am proud of him for that.

So today, on the first day of school, the boy he considers as one of his best friends turns up at the same time as us and starts handing out birthday invites but not to my son, who stood there expectantly, and didn't say anything when he was overlooked, though I know from experience that he will have taken it to heart. I get so mad about this kind of thing (call me overprotective, but I can't ever bear to see anyone being rejected) and I had to ask the boy's father why he wasn't invited. Turns out they can 'only invite six kids' and they have chosen the boys who were at kinder with their son, leaving my son as the only one not invited from this particular group of friends. I mean, move on, people, let's make new friends and try different things from time to time. And more to the point, if you have to exclude some kids (and these parents know that our sons are close friends and played together most of last year even if they are in different grades now), then how about handing out the invites a bit more discreetly? Some kids have feelings, you know, especially on the first day of school. And hey, wasn't your boy invited to our boy's party? And wont I still keep inviting him to playdates because that's the nice thing to do? Grrrr... sorry, I just had to let that out.

But getting back to the positives, I now am a fully-fledged school mom! Yay (I think)! This means the school run is cut in half (it's now 10 minutes instead of 20!), more time for my own work and play, and soon I will have two boys who love to read books to me rather than just one! I am loving it already.

10 comments:

I'm all for the discrete invitation handouts! I was absolutely mortified last year when a friend put her invitations in the kids' pockets at kinder, where all their newsletters went. One of the other mum's saw me looking at the invite and thought it was a newsletter she hadn't received - I was very embarrassed that it was an invitation she hadn't received herself. If people aren't inviting everyone, why not post them so they arrive out of school hours?? That's what we did last year when we only had five - saved a lot of hurt feelings...

Love the school shoes photo! How cute. Hey,sorry to hear about the invitation fiasco...what were they thinking?! (Saw your J earlier playing with a group and looking happy so that's good anyway.) Speaking of party invitations, last year a friends daughter was not invited to a party and her mum had to try to explain why she was left out. Daughter kept insisting she WAS invited but there was no invitation. All a bit sad and hard to explain to a four year old. At the end of year locker clean out..guess what was sitting there? Yes, a lost and lonely party invitation...squashed under a pile of papers! Uh oh. x

It's not rocket science is it?Treat people how you would like to be treated,Treat other peoples kid/s the way you would like your kid/s to be treated.Sorry,feeling a bit raw myself with new prep, & it riled me.Fortunately, sounds like the kids have got it worked out.

Yucky, yuck, yuck. Brings back memories for me - almost same scenario couple years back. No. 1 son not invited to party of a boy we had known since kids were born. My son to this day still calls this other boy his best friend. AND, to top it off, at the time I was taking this boy home with us one night a week to help out their family. It was awful watching my boy struggle socially. Easier if they have trouble academically... at least you can get a tutor! Now I just hope he won't a psychologist!!!

The birthday invitation story was heartbreaking. That any parent(s) could be that ruthlessly insensitive is just mind-boggling. But you're right -- it's not something to take out on the child, but something indeed to hold against the parents.

oh well done to your youngest on his first day of school!! cute!! my eldest started 1st class but like your eldest he is much more reserved and shys away easily...iu worry too but we can only encourage...sorry to hear about the awkard birthday invites, hope he wasnt too sad...

I know I'm late coming to this, excuse me for that but I feel your pain!! My heavens, the emotional rollercoaster we endure for our children! Been there and know EXACTLY how you felt this day Allison! I almost felt like having a weep myself when I read this!